Westinghouse basketball is back

Westinghouse basketball is back

You remember Westinghouse. The one-time West Side candy factory was a state and national power for 30 years, from the day Mark Aguirre transferred from Austin in 1976 to the day the old school closed in 2007. Now there are signs that Westinghouse is back.

The old school on West Franklin Boulevard in Garfield Park produced such coaches as Frank Lollino, Roy Condotti, Frank Griseto, Chris Head and Quitman Dillard and sent four players to the NBA--Aguirre, Eddie Johnson, Hersey Hawkins and Kiwane Garris.

In those years, Westinghouse battled Marshall, Crane, Manley, Farragut, Simeon, King, Phillips, Collins, Carver and Morgan Park for supremacy in the Chicago Public League. The Warriors won a state championship in 2002, finished second in 2000 and third in 1981, 1992 and 1996.
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Last year, after returning to the Red-West for the first time since the school was reconstituted, Westinghouse was 16-9 and lost to Marshall in the regional. With all 15 varsity players returning, fourth-year coach Garland Williams had high expectations for 2012-13.

"We expect to do well this season. We want to be in the top spot in the Red-West. We are mentally prepared to play the good teams," Williams said. "We remind our kids every day about the rich tradition of Westinghouse basketball. They see the trophies and banners in the gym. We ask alumni to come back to talk to the kids."

Westinghouse got off to a good start, beating Galesburg, East Moline and Bartonville Limestone at Thanksgiving. With games against Marshall and Whitney Young this week and Orr and North Lawndale next week, the Warriors hoped to make a statement.

On Wednesday, they won their seventh game in a row by edging Marshall 60-58 as Dewan White scored with 2.4 seconds to play. White, a 6-foot-4 senior, scored 13 of his season-high 19 points in the second half to hold off a furious rally by Marshall, which rallied from a 15-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to tie at 58 with 10 seconds remaining.

On Friday, Westinghouse will try to make another statement when it challenges Whitney Young and Jahlil Okafor.

"We don't have great size so the key to our success is to play defense, create turnovers and score points off our defense," Williams said.

A graduate of Flower Vocational, the 42-year-old Williams learned a lot about the Red-West while hanging out with his pals, Marshall coach Henry Cotton and former Westinghouse coach Chris Head. He coached at Flower before it closed, then assisted Vince Carter at Von Steuben and coached at Raby before being hired at Westinghouse.

Dewan White also knew a lot about Westinghouse and the Red-West before he enrolled. His father and mother are graduates. His father competed in football and track. His mother participated in basketball, track, volleyball and swimming. But he preferred baseball.

"My first passion was baseball. I wanted to be the next Sammy Sosa or Paul Konerko," young Dewan said. "But then I started playing basketball and saw my basketball skills were better than baseball."

As an eighth grader, he played on an AAU team coached by Proviso East's Donnie Boyce that went to the national finals. "I realized that's what I wanted to do in high school," he said.

He already knew about Westinghouse's tradition. His father took him to games as a second and third grader. He saw Chris Head's state championship team in 2002 and Quitman Dillard's 28-4 teams in 2004 and 2005. He played on Head's Illinois Hawks AAU team in the summer.

"We came up to the Red-West for the first time last year. We wanted to show we could compete," White said. "The Sun-Times picked us to finish last in the conference. We had to get used to tougher competition. It was a maturing process. We knew we could play but we had to think the game, not make crucial mistakes in the clutch.

"We have been together since freshman, since the first practice. We have a lot of chemistry. We are more mature than last year. We know what is expected of us. We know each other's games. This is a big statement for us this week, a great opportunity to see how good we are. This is what we have been waiting for since our freshman year."

White and his teammates also are looking forward to competing in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament. They'll meet Downers Grove South in an opening round game on Dec. 22.

"I've been going to Proviso West with my father since third grade," White said. "Morton won when I was in eighth grade. I saw Jon Scheyer score 52 points against Proviso West. It's one of the best tournaments in the nation."

But Westinghouse has a target on its back, like the teams of yesteryear with Aguirre, Johnson, Hawkins, Garris and Banks.

"No one noticed us when we started. We were 33-1 as freshmen but nobody noticed because we were in the Metro Green Division," White said. "As sophomores, we were 18-5 and finished second in the Blue Division. People started to notice.

"We improved over the summer. We got to the final four in the summer league tournament. We lost to Curie by eight points in the semifinals. We showed we can play against the big names."

Now they still have some showing to do.

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At one point, it was looking like Lucas Giolito could be headed to the White Sox in exchange for Chris Sale.

But when Sale was dealt to the Boston Red Sox, Giolito's name was in the clear of rumors — until 29 hours later, when the Nationals' top prospect would be headed to Chicago in a different trade, which sent outfielder Adam Eaton to Washington.

“It’s kind of like the world we live in now. Social media is always out there and everything is on Twitter,” Giolito said in a conference call Friday. “I saw my name being mentioned on Twitter for Chris Sale. I know with the winter meetings all sorts of stuff being thrown around. I was just trying to focus on what I’m doing in this offseason which is lifting and all my workouts. Kind of just whatever happens, happens.

“It’s funny that Sale ended up going to the Red Sox and something else happens that I’m going to the White Sox now with a couple teammates. It’s really interesting stuff but I’m super excited.”

In addition, the White Sox received Reynaldo Lopez — who Giolito has played with since 2014 — and the Nationals' 2016 first-round pick Dane Dunning.

"I definitely think it’s amazing to be coming over to the White Sox with a bunch of young talent," Giolito said. "I think it’s a great opportunity for us to all develop and get better and hopefully put a really good team together in Chicago. Definitely excited to be coming over with a couple guys from my previous organization."

Giolito went 6-5 with a 2.97 ERA and 1.28 WHIP across three minor-league levels this past season. He admitted his mechanics weren't quite in sync and is looking to improve on that.

"Sometimes things get out of whack. I believe I let too much get out of whack last year," Giolito said. "So this year with my training program I have in this offseason — lifting and Pilates and everything — I’m just trying to make sure that I can stay as athletic as possible so I’m able to repeat the right delivery more often. Once I start playing catch and doing bullpens and everything these next few weeks, right before spring training, I’m going to make sure I put that all together so I can repeat my delivery as best as possible."

His struggles continued when he got to The Show.

In his major-league debut on June 28, Giolito held the New York Mets to just one hit over four scoreless innings before a rain delay cut his night short. That turned out to be his most effective outing of the season as he finished the year with an 0-1 record, 6.75 ERA and 1.78 WHIP in six games with the Nationals, four of them being starts.

"(My MLB debut) didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked it to go, obviously, as you look at the numbers and everything," he said, "but I feel that with the White Sox now (and) getting traded and everything, it’s kind of like a fresh opportunity and a new start to get up to the big leagues again and contribute and do everything I can to stay there as well."

Despite his low numbers, the 22-year-old Giolito believes he's ready to play on the White Sox main roster as soon as next season.

"I’ve had some experience in the big leagues last year," Giolito said. "Especially last year, I took a lot positives away because I did experience such a good amount of failure in a lot of I’d say like hardship when I made it up and didn’t perform up to what I believe is my best capabilities.

"I’ve pitched a good amount of innings in the minor leagues and I’ve had a little experience in the big leagues so I’m just really looking forward to making it up in the big leagues with the White Sox and contributing as soon as possible."